From:Bob Nicholas e-mail:bobheci-A-hotmail.com
Subject:RE: Wauseon was a Blast Date:Sat Jul 26 08:29:59 2014
Response to:870
Sorry about that Flat.

How could I foget to mention Ed's attendance. Especially when he bought
the frist round of drinks at the Mexican restaurant. My apologies for the
oversight. Great seeing you at Wauseon. Thanks for the beer.

Bob

----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS -----
All,

The Highlands Chapter put in a good showing at Wauseon last week. We
had at least 13 members attending the show. Here are the folks I can think
of right off the top of my balding head:

Mike Wuss Mueller
Tom Rollo Hardy
General George Ogden
Sparky Nicholas (nicknamed by Rollo and Geoge Downes)
George Downes
King Troensegaard
Juan Sakata
Bobby Williams (Newest member in attendance)
Tom Holter
Rick Allen
Ramsey Allen
Gary Caporaletti (Flat Tracker Extraordinaire)

Kenny Kephart (Good Friend of the Chapter)

This year's event was even better than last year. The weather was perfect
except for a few short showers the last day of the event. There were
increased numbers of vendors and more used and new parts than you
could shake a stick at.

Rollo and I sat in on Saturday's Presidents Meeting. We will go over the
highlights during our upcoming meeting on August 9th.

A bunch of us attended a seminar on 3-D metal printing. They can now
replicate almost any vintage motorcycle with a 3-D metal printer. Very
Cool. It is the same machine they use to make custom metal hip, elbow
and knee joints.

Wuss was in rare form all during the event. He shared jokes and libations
with large numbers of the participants. Many thanks to Mike for providing
transportation for General George, Rollo and me. Most of the time the
General and I just sat back and let Wuss and Rollo go at it. It was a riot all
the to Ohio and back. I really enjoyed the trip and the comradery. We had
a total blast all four days.

This was Juan's and Bobby's first trip to Wauseon. From the smiles on
their faces, they had a great time and they picked up some well needed
parts. (FYI: Today was Juan's first day back at work after recovering from
his shoulder surgery. I understand he got a new tool box and a battery
powered ratchet wrench as a welcome back to work).

Gary was back in the flat-track saddle again this year. One of the bikes
they brought to Wauseon developed a small hole in one the cylinders right
before the race. They decided not to risk further damage and pulled the
bike from the line-up. Luckily, one of the owners of a stable of three bikes
needed one more rider. Gary to the rescue. There was a little trouble
getting the 100 year old bike started, but once it did, it took off at break-
neck speed. Gary had advanced to third place and was still moving
towards the front of the pack, when he ran into a depression in the track
and wiped out. The crash resulted in a few bruises and a dinged up
vintage board-tracker. I checked with Gary right after the race to make
sure he was OK. (He was) I heard Gary was pretty stiff the next day,
though. We hope to see him next year in the winner's circle.

Six of us stayed at the show on Sunday morning to see the bikes being
judged. There were some real jewels in the corral this year.

We were very happy to see so many of our Highlands brothers in
attendance this year. It is a great event, with good deals, rare bikes, wild
characters, fantastic flat-track action and great track food. Heck, where
else are you going to get a pork-chop on a stick for dinner.

Hope we have even more Highlands members going to Wauseon next
year.

See you at the Blast from the Past.

Bob